Sunday, 27 November 2016

I hope you had a wonderful, restful, and delicious Thanksgiving break! I went back home to Oklahoma for a week and had the best time with my family. My tree is (mostly) up but my shopping hasn't even been touched.. nothing like procrastination!

I’m going to be doing a little shopping for myself starting tomorrow! TpT is having their Cyber Sale and I’m stocking up on allllllll the goodies!

Here’s a few things I can't live without this time of year! Click the linky below to see what some other bloggers are grabbing as well!

If you’re a blogger and would like to participate in the linky party, here’s how:

1. Write a new post using the graphic for the linky party and a link back to the linky party so others can find it!

2. Share a couple of your recommended items from your store along with any other items you are looking forward to purchasing.

3. Link up at the bottom of this post and share!

From Short and Sweet Speech:

1. Winter Wonderland No-Prep Apraxia- SO great for SO much more than just my kiddos with Apraxia! (Snag the fall version for free!)

Tuesday, 20 September 2016

Whew! Back to school has been a crazy time at our clinic!! Schedule changes, new kiddos, AND we’re getting a new building!! What a fun and exciting season!

I’ve been hard at work creating some new materials for y'all as well as revamping some of my most popular products! I love when I finally finish and get to put them to work.

We’ve been enjoying my All About Initial /r/ Comprehensive Treatment Bundle lately! I wanted to create something that would cover your needs from identification to graduation. This bundle includes a screener and LOADS of activities to meet every kiddos needs for /r/! (Be watching for vocalic /r/ to come soon!)

Saturday, 25 June 2016

Summertime is the best time and Beach Time is even better! I’m always the happiest when I’m around water. Living in Nashville, the beach is a bit of a drive though. So, we bring the beach to our clinic each summer!

There are endless language targets and sensory activities within the beach theme!

Here are a few of our Beach Week activities.

We use a small blow-up pool and fill it with balls from our ball pit. Kiddos can search through the “water” to find the different sea creatures and treasure that is hidden below the surface. We have summer clothing for dress-up play (great for language, OT, and the imagination!) We throw an umbrella on top to make it a little more festive (and add preposition targets!) You can easily target quantity concepts with this pool too. The possibilities are endless with this easy to assemble pretend beach!

We make a sand sensory box with different sea creatures buried under the sand. Cookie cutters are added to the sandbox to address shapes. Our occupational therapists smooth the sand to practice writing and tracing tasks.

We also have a water play table on our playground outside for more sensory fun! I like to add a little bit of soap to make bubbles for my kiddos.

My littles love my interactive books and All About the Beach is one of my favorites to teach them about the beach and all it entails even if we can't take a field trip! This interactive book is part of my All About Summer Activities Series. You can find it here.

If you'd like to win a copy of my All About Summer Activities Series, make sure you're following my blog. Enter your email in the box to the right if you haven't done so already. A winner will be randomly drawn from my blog followers!

Monday, 2 May 2016

I LOVE when the weather starts warming up, we have frequent thunderstorms, flowers are blooming, the days get longer. The count down to summer break is ON!! Everyone is graduating and getting married. We get to celebrate Better Hearing and Speech Month (MUCH more about this to come!)

And the icing on the cake? Teachers Pay Teachers is having a site wide sale! You know I love a good sale! Save up to 28% off with the code: CELEBRATE!

To kick things off, here are a couple of things I think you can’t live without!

This Great Big, Jumbo Wh- Question Bundle covers all of your "wh- question" needs! With over 250 questions, teaching cards, and carryover activities, you'll be set to teach all of your kiddos from pre-k all the way through elementary grades! These activities are easy to prep and pull-out!

A couple more that I can’t wait to get my hands on:

Describe Me! A Mini-Lesson and Game of Attributes by The Speech Owl

This fun mini-lesson and game is perfect for your therapy sessions! First, use the mini-lesson and practice pages to teach your students how to describe various objects; then settle in for a fun round of Describe Me!

Social Stories for Children with Autism by Speech Me Maybe

Social stories can be a great tool for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. They can be used to teach developmentally appropriate behaviors associated with various social situations.

To make it even easier for you to find all of the good deals, The Frenzied SLPs have been so kind to host a linky party! Check out more from SLPRunner!

Wednesday, 13 April 2016

I wanted to share my latest labor of love with you and do a giveaway! (If you’re new to Short andSweet Speech, I LOVE giveaways!) So here’s what I’ve been working on!

All About Community Helpers: Interactive Book Bundle and Homework Companions

This bundle is SO much fun for my littles! I’m able to teach them all about different professions, what exactly they do, where they work, and who/how they help. I’m able to teach them all about the outside world without ever leaving my speech room!

These books and activities are a great way to prepare for a field trip or classroom visitor. I also like to use these books as social stories before a child goes to visit the doctor or goes to a salon!

I've created a black-and-white version of these books that serve as homework companions. These work nicely went sent back to the classroom or home with children. In the bundle, a wh-question worksheet for each community helper is included as well!

As I create more of these community helper books, they will be added to the bundle. If you have previously purchased the bundle, you will be able to download the additional books for free!

Tuesday, 29 March 2016

Social skills are one of my favorite areas to work with and to create activities for! I typically create shorter, holiday-themed activities, which I love and my kiddos have responded well to, but I’ve been wanting to have materials that last longer than a month or two. So, I’ve created a spring social skills bundle that targets seven different skill areas and will last all season long!

Here’s what it covers:

Topic Maintenance-Students have the opportunity to determine a response to be appropriate or inappropriate. Inappropriate responses then can be discussed and corrected. I have a large number of students that have a hard time staying on topic and this activity gives them an opportunity to remove themselves from the situation that is difficult for them and rate someone else’s behavior.

Initiating Conversation- Students are given social situations in which they can initiate conversation with a variety of individuals. Again, this area targets appropriateness. This is an area that a lot of my early elementary kiddos have difficulty with.

Manners- Students are given social situations in which they can determine appropriate manners to use. This area is one that I find myself targeting indirectly with almost all of my kiddos. I have a handful that need direct instruction in this area and this activity is a great way to deliver that!

Sarcasm- Students are presented with stories that contain both sarcastic and non-sarcastic language. They rate the stories, discuss why they’re sarcastic, and determine the meaning. This activity allows students to breakdown the language and gain a better understanding of how sarcasm is used and when it is appropriate.

Sympathy- Students are given social situations in which they can show sympathy to a variety of individuals. This activity goes great with the emotion cards that are included. You can discuss the emotion, why the character is feeling this way, and talk about real-life scenarios in which your students have felt that way as well.

Theory of Mind- Students are given social situations in which they can show sympathy to a variety of individuals. Okay, raise your hand if you have students who struggle with Theory of Mind… (And everyone raises their hand.) About 70% of my caseload benefits from this activity. Again, the emotions cards pair nicely with this activity!

Correcting Poor Social Skills- Appropriate and inappropriate behaviors are included. Allow students to expressively correct poor behaviors or match the appropriate behavior to the inappropriate behavior and discuss why it is appropriate/inappropriate. This is such a fun activity! Kiddos love catching the poor behavior and getting to be in the authoritative role in correcting it!

Rating Cards- Use the cards to rate the respective stories. These cards go with the Topic Maintenance and Sarcasm activities. You can print multiple copies so that each student has their own.

Emotion Cards- These cards can be used in any of the activities to discuss various feelings that may be experienced. They are great with Theory of Mind and Sympathy activities. Emotions included are angry, anxious, happy, sad, surprised, embarrassed, disappointed, and confused. A description of each emotion is included.

Game Board- Use as a reinforcer for any activity. Kiddos can make their own game pieces or you can use them from any board game (my students love the Candy Land pieces.) Grab some dice and go! It’s super easy and very rewarding for your students!

If you’d like to have a copy of this bundle, make sure you’re following my blog! If you’re not, just enter your email in the box on the right column and click submit!

All emails will be entered to win a FREE copy and the winner will be announced on Friday, April 1st!

Tuesday, 22 March 2016

How many SLPs do you know that are not Type A? How many do you know that don't obsess over office supplies? There’s truly nothing like a new package of beautifully coordinated color gel pens (my personal favorite are the G2s) or a sparkly new planner to make you feel like you can conquer the world! Some women have to keep themselves away from the shoe section at Target to keep themselves out of trouble, but I am not allowed to go into the office supplies unsupervised. (Okay, I probably shouldn’t be turned loose with the shoe section either.) I have recently discovered a life-changing piece of the office supply section that I didn’t know existed. I could kiss who ever made these! (You’ll have to go to Amazon to get them instead of Target though.)

As much as I love office supplies, I equally love all of the incredible products I’ve found on TpT and created for my TpT store. The only downside is that they don't come with a container to keep everything organized in their Type A place. So, I discovered these hanging bags that changed my whole world! They snap together at the top so they keep everything nicely tucked away. And they have hook handles on the top so that you can hang them up and out of your way while still being able to access your materials easily!

I have organized mine by seasons and holidays. I also have a section for specific skills that are not holiday or seasonally themed.

They even have this fancy-schmancy stand that you can get to hang them on.

There’s a variety of brands and sizes. These are 9.25 X 12. You can fit 4 of my Interactive Books in one bag. I also fit my full-prepped seasonal mega bundles in one bag.

With this particular set, you get 10 bags for $20! Not a bad deal! I've included the link to the set that I purchased. Click here to see them!

What are some of your tips and tricks to keeping your office in order and easy to access?